Circular loom



3Sheets8heet 1. A. BALL. Circular Loom.

No. 228,589. Patented June 8,1880.

8 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. BALL.

I Circular Loom.

No. 228,589. Patented June 8, I880.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3. A. BALL.

Circular Loom.

No. 228,589. Patented June 8,1880.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT BALL, OF GLAREMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

CIRCULAR LOOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,589, dated June 8, 1886.

Application filed July 9, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT BALL, of Glaremont, in the county of Sullivan and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and Improved Gircular Loom; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

In developing the manufacture of woven coptubes it appeared essential to find some economical mode of weaving them. Of the various circular looms in use some were too complicated, all were too expensive, and no one seemed well adapted for the purpose I had in view. I have therefore produced a new circular loom which is cheap, simple in construction, compact, and convenient in use, and, while it is particularly adapted for weaving cop-tubes and like articles, is also well fitted for covering whip-handles, and indeed for all purposes for which circular looms are or may be employed.

The novelty of my invention consists in an annular sectional shuttle with an incline and a pivoted point; in the combination of the shuttle with the wag-staves 5 in the wag-staves with rawhide guide plates with projections; and in the various combinations'of the principal operative parts, all constructed and arranged as is more fully hereinafter described.

In order that those skilled in the art may know how to make and use my loom, I proceed to describe the same, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my loom; Fig.- 2, a plan view of the top of the same; Fig. 3, a central vertical section of the same on a line, or :r, in Fig. 2 5 Fig. 4., an edge view of the shuttle with a woof or filling spool in position upon it; Fig. 5, a plan view of the under side of the shuttle; Fig. 6, an elevation of one of the divided wag-staves, and Fig. 7 a side elevation of the same.

Like letters denote corresponding parts in all of the above figures.

V The base of this loom is designated by the letter A. In this instance it is a circular foot or base; but it may be of any form which will conveniently support the loom in a vertical position and givea convenientmeans of attaching the warp bobbins or spools. Around the periphery of this base are arranged any desired number of bobbin or spool holders, B, preferably of some uneven number, which holders are in thisinstauce short flat-topped standards,

each having a spindle, a, inserted vertically in it, of such a length, preferably, as will extend up through the bobbin or spool. These bobbins or spools O, mounted upon the spindles a, are of any convenient form, but preferably like an ordinary thread-spool, as shown, with flat ends, so that the tension of the unwinding thread upon them may be regulated by a weight placed upon the top of each bobbin or spool, and thus the friction increased upon the top of the holder.

From the center of the base the standard D rises preferably hollow, and at some convenient point supports a disk, E, to the periphery of which the feet of the wag-staves are preferably pivoted. These wagstaves F are made of a sufficient length to extend a little above the shuttle-plate G, which is secured upon the top of the standard D, passing through proper openings in said plate. Each of these wagstaves has secured to its upper end a guideplate, F, which is made of rawhide, and has upon its outer side one or more thread-grooves, I), and is cut away at its top to the depth of the thread groove, leaving a thinner portion, 0, projected above the shuttle plate, and an outer portion, 0, projecting upward a little. These wag-staves have attached to them a spring, H, the upper end of which presses against the under side of the shuttle-plate G,

and serves to throw the upper end of each wag-staifout or into its seat as it passes a perpendicular position.

Grooved pulleys I are placed above the shuttle-plate G, each having a spindle, d, which re volves in a sleeve, 0, which passes through the shuttle-plate near its periphery. This sleeve has a shoulder near its top, which limits its passage through the sh Little-plate, and a thread upon its lower part, upon which is a nut, f, by means of which it is prevented from rising, and by means of the shoulder named and the nut is held firmly in position in the shuttleplate. A set-screw, g, entering the bottom of the sleeve, serves to adj nst the elevation of the grooved pulley,.and its top forms a seat, upon which the bottom of the spindle d revolves.

A circular shuttle, J, is held in a horizontal position by means of its outer beveled edges entering the grooves in the inner edges of the pulleys I. At the same time a rotary motion is imparted to said shuttle by the revolution of said pulleys, which revolution is effected by a cord passing around all the pulleys and entering their grooves on the outside. One of these pulleys (designated by the letter I) may have its spindle extend above its pulley, and have attached to it another pulley, by means of which suitable connection may be made with proper driving machinery and motion imparted to the shuttle.

For the purpose of tightening the cord which passes around all the pulleys, another pulley, I, may be employed, which turns in a clamp capable of adjustment out and in by means of a slot in the shuttle-plate. This circular shuttle J is preferably of thin sheet metal, and is annular in form, except that it has an opening, or more than one. opening, through which the heads or covering-plates of the wag-staves pass in the operation of weaving.

A point, K, having its front end, h, pointed and widening toward the rear 43, is pivoted near its center to the under side of the front or advancing end of the shuttle, whereby this point K may be vibrated at each end in a horizontal plane.

A spring,j, secured at one end to a stud upon the under side of the shuttle, has its free end enter a recess in the IGZLF'i of the point K, and presses that end outwardly, and consequently the front end, h, inwardly or toward the center of the loom.

At the opposite or rear end of the shuttle, and upon its inner edge,is a vertically-dependent flange or incline, 7a.

In the rotation of the shuttle, it being understood that the wag-staff guide-plates are in position alternately outside and inside of the shuttle, the front h of the point, passing'upon the outside of one of the wag-staff guide-plates,

forces that wag-staff inwardly, which inward movement is completed by the spring H. This wag-staff, then being upon the interior of the shuttle, remains in such interior until the rear end of the shuttle, in its revolution, reaches it,

when its incline passes inside of the projection 0 of the guide-plate and forces the wagstaff out through the opening in the shuttle, which outward movement is completed by the proper spring, H. The point K, having thrown in the wag-staff just mentioned, passes on in its rotation to the next wag-staff, which, in its order, is outside of the shuttle, and the rear end, i, of the point K being acted upon by the springj and pressed outwardly, the front end, h, of the point K is pressed inwardly, so that the point passes upon the inside of the guideplate of that wag-staff, which thus remains upon the outside of the shuttle. In passing that wag-staff, however, in its further revolution, the wide rear end, i, of thepoint K presses against the inner face of the guideplate and is thrown inwardly, and consequently its front end, h, is thrown outwardly,

and the point K being of a little greater length than the distance between the wag-staves, its

number, it follows that in regular sequence each wag-staff assumesits position outside or inside of the shuttle.

Upon the top of the shuttle are pivoted one or more woof or filling bobbins or spools, L, having above them a frame or other support, M, for a thread-guide, Z. Supported by suitable standards secured to the shuttle-plate, and placed above the shuttle, is the top plate or holding-ring N, which is annular, and serves to give by its periphery a proper and equal distance from a common center of the warpthreads.

It may be convenient and desirable in some instances to have the wag-staves made double, as is shown by the letter F, for the purpose of changing the number of warp-threads without removing or adding warp-bobbins. In such instance each of these wag-staves must have its separate spring H, and for one of them the recess in the shuttle-plate must be extended outwardly, so as to allow the head of this wag-staff to be thrown by its spring outwardly' entirely out of the way of the shuttle. Then it is desired to use this wag-staff it is pressed inwardly into line with the one next to it,'and held in position by a cam, O, or other equivalent means. the wag-staff, which is intended for constant use, has attached to its guide-plate a metallic guide, m, instead of the projection c on the ordinary guide-plates.

In the loom which has been described at length the warp-bobbinsmay be filled with one or more threads of 'the same or of dilferent colors, which threads are first led through Inthisiustance, also,

a hook or eye,n,on the standard; then through 1 a spring-eye,P, at the end of a spring secured, preferably, to the under side of the disk E; thence through an eye, 0, upon each wag-staff; then up the same and through the threadgroove in the wag-staff plate, and through an eye, 19, near the top of the same, and then up over the top plate or holding-ring N, where all the warp-threads are united and connected to a cord passing up over a pulley, with a weight at its opposite end, or some other well-known device, to draw them upwardly with a uniform tension.

The woof or filling thread upon the spool or spools L, which are suitably mounted upon the shuttle, is led up through the eye Z upon the frame M, and then down through another hook or eye, 1, attached to the top of the shut tle, or at some convenient point, and then up over the top plate, where it may be tied with v the warp-threads.

In the rotation of the shuttle passing through the shed in the manner previously described the filling-thread is carried alternately outside and inside of the warp-threads, and the act of weaving is effected.

Where the weaving is over a mandrel, as is usual for cop-tubes, or over the article to be covered by weaving, this mandrel or article is inserted vertically and centrally in the 100111 and between the warp-threads, a portion of it, if need be, hanging down within the standard, and held in this position until, the loom being started, the weaving, which commences a little above the mandrel or other article, extends down upon and covers the upper end of the same, and holds the same during the remaining part of the operation.

By the alternate moving out and in of the wag-staves, as by the means before described, the woof or filling threads are woven around outside and inside of the alternate warpthreads as the mandrel or other article is uniformly raised by the tension before described. An additional tension, if desired, can be produced by weights upon the warp-bobbins, as before explained, and the tendency to a want of uniformity in the warp-th reads being largely corrected by the elasticity of the spring-eye P.

Among the peculiar advantages of my loom may be enumerated the fixed position, of the warpbobbins, by which a much larger quantity of the warp can be placed on the loom at the start than can be done where the bobbins are not fixed in position, thereby saving waste of thread and the delays attendant upon the frequent changes of the bobbins. By reason of this fixed position of the warp-bobbins much less power is required to drive the loom. I

The annular sectional shuttle has all the advantages which result from uniform movement in one direction, simplicity, and cheapness of construction.

claim as new therein and of my own invention 1. The annular sectional shuttle J, provided with its incline k, and the point K, pivoted and adapted to vibrate the several parts, constructed and combined to operate substantially as described.

2. In combination, the Wag-staves F, having springs H, and the annular shuttle J, provided with pivoted point K, having the incline 7c and cam portion 1', and the spring j, with means for guiding and actuating said shuttle, substantially as described. v

3. The combination of the annular shuttle J, provided with the incline 7c, the pivoted point K, the wag-staves F, the spring H, and the base of the 100111, provided with the stationary vertical bobbin -holders B, substantially as described.

4. The wag-stafi F, provided with the rawhide guide-plates E, having projections c and c, constructed substantially as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 19th day of May, 1879.

ALBERT BALL.

Witnesses J. DUNCAN UPHAM, FRANK R. BALL. 

